Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for the UN and International Organizations (UNIO) Bayani S. Mercado paid a courtesy call on Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Shinichi Kitaoka at the JICA Headquarters on 02 February.

Assistant Secretary Mercado and President Kitaoka served at the Philippine and Japanese Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York in the early 2000s, and were seatmates at the UN Security Council in 2005, as the Philippines and Japan served their respective terms as non-permanent members in the 15-nation body. President Kitaoka took the opportunity to brief Assistant Secretary Mercado about JICA’s ongoing assistant projects for the Philippines in the areas of transportation, infrastructure, peacebuilding and maritime security. END